are there any queen albums that really surprized you the first couple of listens?

for me it was the 'innuendo' album. i'd pestered the record shops for weeks, ringing and asking if they had their copies yet. finally one said yes, they'd just come in. i raced down there and got the first copy as they were just unpacking the box. luckily i got the version with the calendar.

to be honest i wasn't expecting too much from the album, even though i'd already heard the title track, which i thought was great btw, definitely one of their best ever tracks. however i hadn't liked 'the miracle' except for a couple of tunes, and although 'a kind of magic' had some great songs, it also had some naff ones as well imo.

like i said, the album really surprized me and made me feel good about the band. freddie's vocals were very good on this record. i thought 'i'm going slightly mad was a great song, quirky and humorous, and was perfect following the title track. 'all god's people' was an immediate stand out track for me as well. i was really surprized to hear another gospel type track like this. i think it showed they weren't just going thru' the motions while recording the album.

it felt great as an album, even though there were/are 3 songs i don't care for. for that stage of their career and with freddie being so ill, they did a wonderful job and it was most welcome.

Upon first exploring Queen, their debut album surprised me. At first, I was taken aback by tone of the album. I was used the polished '80s sound which made up most of Classic Queen. I didn't know much about Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple and such, though I made it a point to learn quickly. All of that was ahead of me when I first put Queen 1 on, though. I knew "Keep Yourself Alive" (from CQ) and "The Seven Seas Of Rhye" (from Wembley), so I was basically going in cold. I had the Hollywood Records 1991 re-issue cassette and I only knew about half of their albums by this point.

It seems so naive now to think I was startled by fairies and kings and religious themes, but there you go. I gave it a few listens over a couple of weeks, and remember clearly the moment the album clicked for me. I was painting some WWII model US soldiers (a teenage hobby, among many others) in my room, "Great King Rat" was playing and I realized I was 100% into it, grooving to the guitar solo, and Queen was my band! My parents listened to '50s and '60s music, my dad also liked older country, by older brother and younger sister were into Brit-pop and alternative and my other younger sister and younger brother weren't much into music. So Classic Rock was mine. My friends and peers were into '90s alternative, rap, techno or dance, so for me, it was a self-fueled journey through '60s and '70s rock (classic, prog, everything...).

I think most of their albums surprised me when I heard them for the first time. That was part of the fascination of Queen. Listening to NOTW and "We will rock you" for the first time was something very unexpected. I also remember listening to "Jazz" for the first time. I was into headphones by that time for the ultimate stereo experience. And "Mustapha" literally exploding into stereo after the first verse blew me away. "Hot Space" also surprised me (and confused me) as did "The Works". From then onwards they seemed to play more "save", although "Innuendo" had some great unexpected moments.

rhyeking wrote: Upon first exploring Queen, their debut album surprised me. At first, I was taken aback by tone of the album. I was used the polished '80s sound which made up most of Classic Queen. I didn't know much about Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple and such, though I made it a point to learn quickly. All of that was ahead of me when I first put Queen 1 on, though. I knew "Keep Yourself Alive" (from CQ) and "The Seven Seas Of Rhye" (from Wembley), so I was basically going in cold. I had the Hollywood Records 1991 re-issue cassette and I only knew about half of their albums by this point.

It seems so naive now to think I was startled by fairies and kings and religious themes, but there you go. I gave it a few listens over a couple of weeks, and remember clearly the moment the album clicked for me. I was painting some WWII model US soldiers (a teenage hobby, among many others) in my room, "Great King Rat" was playing and I realized I was 100% into it, grooving to the guitar solo, and Queen was my band! My parents listened to '50s and '60s music, my dad also liked older country, by older brother and younger sister were into Brit-pop and alternative and my other younger sister and younger brother weren't much into music. So Classic Rock was mine. My friends and peers were into '90s alternative, rap, techno or dance, so for me, it was a self-fueled journey through '60s and '70s rock (classic, prog, everything...). I remember playing Queen 1 in my back yard, 1974, after realising that, after 'sheer heart attack' and particularly 'killer queen', there was something really special here, 'doin alright' came on and , i thought; 'what the hell is that'- just so utterly unique and beautiful. All these years later and i still hold their legacy dear.

In some ways it is hard to think back to 1975-6 (when they really broke here in Australia). The video for Bo Rhap did the trick for me I think. Being a pianist from a classical background, I was sucked into anything with a piano (even ABBA, but the attraction here was Frida...hmm, I digress). Death On Two Legs was absolutely brilliant; Romantic style piano merging into a snarling rocker. Then Races: I couldn't stop lifting the needle and playing Tie Your Mother Down over, and over again. And that great drum sound in White Man almost blew my little speakers apart. Somewhere around this time, I bought the earlier albums, excited by hearing songs that I had first heard at the Horden Pavilion in April of 1976. Liar, Brighton Rock, Flick of the Wrist. And the sheer majesty (I use the word deliberately) of Procession-Father to Son and White Queen kept me entranced. I loved the raw, earthy feel of News; Mustapha was a hoot, Entertain You, Dead on Time and (at last) a Deacon Rocker on Jazz. Now I know it is not popular, but I immediately loved Fun It: what a great groove. The big surprise on the Game was Dragon Attack: great drum and bass sound and I love all the percussion. Rock It just fulfilled all my power pop dreams. I immediately loved the grooves of Hot Space and still do. Now The Works however was a disappointment in that it seemed made to a formula. Magic had some great moments; One Vision meshed their rock and synth tendencies nicely, Live Forever was a powerful, grandiose ballad and Gimme the Prize and Princes just went THUD. Now, Don't Loose your Head just (on the other hand) went down the gurgler! The Miracle made me smile from beginning to end; energy, groovy rhythms, vocals, true rock guitar riffs and crazy vocals. Innuendo had intricacy, silliness, wit and depth. Made in Heaven was a mixed one for me as I was looking forward to new songs and didn't much fancy the remakes. Still, with songs like Let Me Live and Mother Love, who cares? So, as Fred said "there you have it!" Cheers

Hot space was a surprise for me, as well as all their 80's music. Queen to the game were pretty popular and they were at their biggest during that time, but i was surprised at how great the albums were once I listened to them straight through. not just the popular songs being so great. Hot space and The works, A kind of magic were surprising in the fact that i heard those albums were the devil, evil and not to be touched, so when i listened to those albums i was surprised that i liked a lot of those evil songs. yea, the albums are inconisistent and the band was clearly past the prime, but some of it was actually good. Innuendo was the most shocking for me.....IMO, the miracle is Queen's weakest album, so naturally thought they were washed up, but when I heard the title track for Innuendo i was shocked and blown away.